Detecting Recent Changes of Ice-Free Extensions on Livingston Island, Northern Antarctic Peninsula Region Using Landsat Data

The Antartic ice-free areas are important and often hotspots of terrestrial biodiversity. Detecting change of the extension of these areas is therefore important and easily determined with remotely sensed data. The objective was to detect changes in the ice-free areas of Byers Peninsula and Hurd Peninsula on Livingston Island in the northern Antarctic Peninsula region. The proposed approach uses the combination of the Normalized Difference Snow Index and ratio of visible and near infrared reflectance bands of pan sharpened multispectral Landsat bands taken 16 years apart. Results showed an initial approximation was acceptable, but an important validation of these extensions was necessary when glacier fronts were covered by debris and sediments. This needed field determinations and thereafter a more precise digitalizing of the actual glacier front.